President Benigno Aquino III asked the four presidential candidates to work together to defeat Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte in the polls.

In an interview with CNN Philippines, PNoy said that he talked to Liberal Party standard bearer Mar Roxas and exchanged texts with Senator Grace Poe, but nothing is conclusive. The president said that Duterte accounted for 30 percent, and it would make sense to unite the remaining 70 percent to defeat Duterte.

"I'm trying to get all of these different voices from so many sectors together and in that sense perhaps help our candidates get together and have that united front," he added.

The interview happened hours before presidential candidate Roxas announced that he called fellow candidate Poe for an attempt to unity.

“Let’s talk. This is for unity, our country and this is for our future,” he added.

However, the independent candidate reportedly denied heeding Roxas’ plea for unity. The two are statistically tie in surveys placing second and third in different mock polls.

Poe was once a member of the Liberal Party before she decided to run as an independent candidate. Roxas, on the other hand, was supposed to run for 2010 presidential elections, but chose to give way to current president PNoy whose campaign was boosted by his mother’s death, EDSA icon Cory Aquino.